It has been over 50 years since the U.S. put the first man on the moon. Undeniably, the most famous and memorable quote that emerged from that endeavor was Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” However, I think there is another quote that was produced by a contributor to the space program that speaks volumes about humanity as a whole. In 1962, years before the moon landing, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA and encountered a janitor with a broom in the hallway. After Kennedy asked the man what he did at NASA, the president was met with a surprising response. “I’m helping put a man on the moon,” the janitor replied. Simply put, there are always more people behind the scenes than we think supporting those at the top and on the front lines of every endeavor and profession. This was true of the janitor as NASA in the 1960s, and it’s still true of janitors today, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Custodians and janitorial staff were some of the many workers deemed essential at the start of the pandemic almost exactly one year ago, though they were often not thought of as such when it came to hazard pay or other pandemic considerations. Due to the mysterious nature of the pathogen most of us new as the “novel coronavirus” back then, epidemiologists, public health officials, disease experts, and other scientists were unsure as to exactly how it spread. At first, many thought it spread via direct contact with other people or shared contact with some common surface. This is why mask-wearing was not encouraged at first. Respiratory droplets were not known to be the primary source of spread yet. As a result, janitors had to go to work thinking that they could be coming into contact with COVID-19 on every surface they cleaned. Furthermore, regulatory gray areas when it comes to PPE requirements for sub-contractors left many janitors with insufficient supplies to keep themselves safe while doing their jobs and making sure whoever was still coming into work the next day was safe as well.
Like all of us, janitors stepped into the unknown when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The difference was that they were minimum wage workers who did not know the level of danger into which they were putting themselves so that they could complete a job that kept others safe in one of the most suddenly and immediately uncertain times in recent memory. This
is especially true of janitorial workers and custodians in hospitals. They were literally cleaning the front lines, making sure that facilities were constantly prepared for doctors and nurses who were working to treat every patient and save every live they could from this new, emergent, and invisible threat. Janitors in every walk of life deserve our gratitude as well, as they put themselves on the line and did their jobs at a time when we all stayed home to slow the spread, flatten the curve, and save lives. Just like the janitor from NASA, their jobs are necessary and essential to keep the world turning and moving forward, even in its darkest days. They should get proper credit for that. It’s time they get the praise they deserve, because they truly are some of the many unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.